


Proof of Consequences

by caimani



Category: Set It Off (Band), Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Ghosts, Humor, Ouija
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 05:19:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16654945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caimani/pseuds/caimani
Summary: “Cause I work myself to death; don’t believe me? Ask Geoff”When Awsten wrote that lyric, he didn’t expect it to come true in the most literal of ways. Now he’s a ghost fronting a band that grows more popular every day. He and his band are trying their best to keep their fans—and friends—from finding out the truth.





	Proof of Consequences

**Author's Note:**

> written for the Waterparks Creations Challenge! my prompt was Royal, which is kind of a melancholy song, so I decided to make the story funny instead

Every time that Awsten thinks he’s made it through the most stressful moment of life as a ghost, the universe decides to throw something new and equally nerve-racking at him. 

Like the time a photographer managed to take a picture the split second that Awsten’s visible form wavered and he was conspicuously absent from the photo.

Like the rehearsal during which he forgot to concentrate his energy for a moment and his pretty new guitar clattered to the floor.

Like the time that he was stumbling tiredly out of the tour bus and he almost fell straight into the ground. 

Like every time an interviewer sticks out their hand for a handshake and Awsten has to pretend to be a germaphobe. 

Like every single meet and greet when a fan wants a hug and Awsten has to build up his spirit energy to become corporeal for a few seconds. Thankfully, Geoff and Otto have been stepping in and wrapping their arms around the fans first, so all Awsten has to do is exert just enough pressure that it feels like he’s hugging too.

It sucks though. Awsten thought things were stressful back in early 2016, back when things were still frustratingly slow. All of their hard work finally paid off with the release of Double Dare, but now he’s dead and stuck as a ghost. Right now, all his earlier problems seem kind of insignificant compared to the strain between not wanting to seem like a douchebag but also not wanting to reveal to the world that he’s fucking dead.

Although… right at this exact moment, it’s like the universe is apologizing for throwing all the crap his way.

He, Geoff, Jawn, and Otto are all staying at Set It Off’s place, with the expectation that the two bands will write some sort of collab together. Really, it’s just been a weekend of hanging out and fucking around, recorded for posterity by Jawn and Maxx’s cameras. Eventually they’ll get around to writing, but they’ve been having so much fun covering other people’s songs and cooking and playing video games and petting Set It Off’s pets.

Of course, there’ve been a couple close calls this weekend, but Awsten has managed to catch himself each time someone in Set It Off reaches out to touch him. He’s gotten better at turning corporeal quickly, much faster than when he was a new, inexperienced ghost. As far as Cody, Dan, Maxx, and Zach know, he’s the same living and breathing Awsten that toured with them on Warped 2016. 

Pistol definitely knows though… but Awsten snuck her some extra treats to get on the cat’s good side. He thinks he’s won her over.

They’re finishing dinner when Maxx, who was silent for a few minutes, suddenly blurts out, “Hey, you guys wanna play with a Ouija board?”

Awsten lights up at that idea. Geoff and Otto wince. Jawn laughs nervously. 

“You don’t have a Ouija board,” Zach says.

“No, but he’s got that big ass Ouija blanket on his wall,” Cody says. 

“That works, right?” Maxx says. “As long as it’s got all the letters in the right place, it still counts as a Ouija—”

“Blanket,” Dan finishes.

“Hell yes, I wanna do that,” Awsten says. He fucking loves those things. 

“Uh,” Geoff says. “Hey, Awsten, you sure?”

Awsten looks at Geoff. Geoff, Otto, and Jawn are all sending him very pointed looks. And, okay, Awsten has an idea of what they’re probably thinking. But this is something he hasn’t done since he died and became a ghost! It’s going to be way more fun, especially since he’ll actually be able to see if a real ghost shows up. He’s seen ghosts here and there, at old venues and creepy haunted locations. It’s going to be so cool if he can see them talking with one through the board. Blanket.

“Y’all can sit out if you wanna,” Awsten says. “If you’re cowards.” Otto rolls his eyes.

“Cody, we still have all those candles, right?” Maxx says excitedly. He gets up and is almost to the stairs before Cody can answer.

“Yeah, they’re somewhere,” Cody says. “I’ll get them once we clean up.” He stands up to start picking up his dirty dishes. 

“Nice,” Awsten says. He gets up too, forgetting to turn corporeal or to move his chair. He passes through the object instead. Next to him, Jawn slaps a hand against his forehead. Whatever, it’s a small mistake, and since neither Zach or Dan screamed or pointed at him, neither of them noticed. 

They set up the Ouija blanket on the living room floor, and Cody sets up a bunch of half-melted candles all over the room. It takes some time to find a lighter, but they finally dig one out of a drawer in the kitchen and light all the candles. Then, Dan turns the lights off. Awsten, Maxx, Cody, Zach, and a very reluctant Otto all crowd around the corners of the blanket.

“I don’t really have a Ouija thing, but we’ve got this frisbee,” Maxx says, holding up a frisbee with an open center. “It should be good enough.”

“They probably make eye things big enough for these,” Awsten says. He reaches out to touch the frisbee with his fingertips, and everyone else on the floor does the same.

“If that thing actually starts moving on its own, I’m outta here,” Dan says from the safety of the couch. He’s as far from the action as he can be, eyeing the Ouija blanket with trepidation.

“If you try to leave without saying goodbye, it curses you,” Maxx says ominously.

“What?” Geoff and Zach say at the same time.

“Let’s start!” Awsten says. “First we say hello.”

As they slide the frisbee to the HELLO, Awsten feels a strange lightness come across him. It’s almost… almost as if it’s easier to interact with the physical world. It’s not like the way that performing fills him with so much spiritual energy that it’s no problem playing his guitar and jumping around the stage. It’s more like… like he’s in a space where things are more open to ghosts.

A spiritual medium.

Fucking perfect. He glances over his shoulder and grins at Jawn and Geoff. They both look confused. This is going to be so much fun.

“Okay, next we say our names,” Maxx says. “Hello, spirits. I’m Maxx.” Everyone touching the frisbee moves it to spell out Maxx’s name.

“I’m Cody,” Cody says, and his name gets spelled out next. 

Then comes Zach, Otto, and finally Awsten. Awsten can’t hide his glee as the frisbee moves to each letter of his name. Technically they’ve already made contact with a ghost. He looks around the room, but doesn’t see any other ghosts lingering around the place. That means it’s all up to him. 

“If there’s any ghosts here,” Cody says, “Tell us your name.”

The frisbee remains still in the center of the Ouija blanket for a moment. Then, Awsten reaches for that spiritual energy within himself and feeds it into the frisbee. He stares at the frisbee in concentration, and then slides it towards the NO.

“Oh my god,” Zach says. “Oh my god, oh my god, who’s doing that?”

“Not me,” Maxx says, watching the frisbee move with fascination.

“Not me,” Otto says, not looking at Awsten.

“This is a real ghost,” Cody breathes.

“I fucking swear, if you get this house infested with ghosts—” Dan says.

Awsten stops the frisbee at NO. Then, still channeling his energy into the frisbee, he slides it towards the 3. Dan and Zach both continue to freak out as he spells out words on impulse. He’ll make this up as he goes along.

**3 QUESTIONS**

Yeah, that seems like a good idea.

“Oh shit,” Cody says, breaking into laughter. “Jawn, are you filming this? You should.”

“Uh,” Jawn starts hesitantly.

Awsten eases his energy out of the frisbee so the alive people can move it to ask the questions. Doing that seems to have an effect on the spiritual energy of the room. At that very moment, every single candle in the room flares an almost ultraviolet purple light for a split second.

“NO FUCKING WAY!” Dan yells, jumping up from the couch and starting to back out of the living room. 

“Don’t leave!” Cody shouts. “If you do, whatever’s in here will stay forever and probably possess one of us.”

“How the fuck do you know it’s not already staying?” Dan says, although he stops moving. “Do you even know what you’re messing with?”

“It just said it would answer three questions,” Maxx points out. “That doesn’t sound bad.”

“Or it’ll ask _us_ three questions,” Otto murmurs. 

Awsten grins. “Let’s try asking,” he says. He catches Jawn’s attention again and smiles excitedly. Jawn looks like he’s torn between being stressed and being completely exasperated. As if this isn’t the wildest thing Awsten’s ever done. Hey, he’s a ghost! He had to do this eventually!

“Alright, what should question one be?” Zach says. 

“Who are you?” Maxx suggests.

“But the spirit—or whatever it is—it didn’t want to say its name,” Geoff says. 

“Right,” Cody says. “Then, uh… I don’t know.”

“‘Whatever it is’?” Dan repeats incredulously. “If that’s a demon—” 

“How about ‘are you a demon’?” Maxx says.

“Oh my god,” Dan groans. He drops back onto the couch and watches warily.

Awsten can’t hide his enjoyment as they move the frisbee through the letters of the question. He’s already got his answer in mind.

**NOT YET**

The candles flare purple again when Awsten releases his energy focus. 

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!” Dan yells, getting up again and pacing around. “Yeah, this is a lot of fun, let’s play telephone with something that’s trying to turn into a demon. What, is it gonna eat our souls? Is it gonna drag us through the Ouija fucking blanket all Jumanji style?”

“Do… do you want me to ask it that?” Maxx asks.

“Ask if it can please leave us alone,” Dan says. “Or—no, ask this motherfucker if it’s evil. Awsten, you’ve done this shit before, right? How do you tell if something’s bad?”

“It fucks with other things in the room while you’re doing the Ouija stuff,” Awsten says.

“Like the fucking candles,” Dan says flatly.

“Yeah!”

“Maxx, you’ve gotta burn that fucking blanket when this is over, I fucking swear,” Dan says.

“No!” Maxx cries.

“Okay, what if we just ask it harmless things?” Geoff suggests. “Like when he died or… I don’t know.”

“Oh, good idea!” Maxx says. “When… did… you… die,” he says slowly as the group spells out the words.

**2016**

The candles flare purple again. Awsten’s starting to love the color they make. He needs to show his parents and sister that trick when he goes home after this. They thought the invisibility and incorporeality was cool; they’re going to be fucking floored by this. He should really experiment more to find out what special powers he might have as a ghost. Be fucking Danny Phantom for next Halloween, with all the tricks and ghost powers.

“Okay, so it’s a modern ghost,” Cody says. “That’s kinda cool. You never really hear about ghosts from this century. They’re always like, old racist shitheads from a hundred years ago.”

“It still wants to become a demon,” Dan points out.

“Who wouldn’t want to become a demon?” Maxx says. 

“I wanna be a demon,” Awsten says. 

“I thought you guys were God’s favorite boy band,” Cody says, elbowing Awsten. His elbow passes straight through Awsten’s side. Whoops. 

“I can be a demon and still be God’s favorite boy band singer,” Awsten says. “I’ll show you. Next album. Music video or something. It’ll be fucking tight.”

“What’s going to be the last question?” Otto says.

“Ask for three more questions,” Cody says.

“They’re not wishes,” Jawn says.

“‘Should we all dye our hair blonde?’” Maxx prompts.

“I’m not dying my hair for a ghost,” Dan says.

“How about ‘How did you die?’” Cody says.

Awsten feels Otto go still beside him. That’s not really a question he feels like answering. He jokes about it with Otto and Geoff and Jawn sometimes but… he’d rather not bring that up while they’re having a good time.

“What about ‘Who’s better, Set It Off or Waterparks?’” Otto says.

“What?” Cody says.

“What if the ghost doesn’t know your band?” Zach says. “I mean, it’s gonna know us, but—” 

Awsten bites his lip to hold back the giggle. He pours his energy into the frisbee before they can debate it anymore. The seemingly spontaneous movement of the frisbee effectively shuts down further argument.

**WATERPARKS IS GHOSTS FAVORITE BOY BAND**

Otto cracks up beside him as the candles flare. Maxx and Cody and Zach are indignant, but they congratulate Awsten, Geoff, and Otto. Jawn is shaking his head, but he’s laughing. Geoff doesn’t look so tense anymore.

“It can’t be evil if it can joke around like that,” Maxx says. “Dan, you can relax; the ghost likes to dance to Stupid for You.” 

“Nice,” Awsten giggles. 

“Alright, are we done?” Otto says. 

“Sure,” Cody says. “Our ghost Waterparks fan said three questions, it answered them. Time to wrap this up.”

They move the frisbee to GOODBYE, and then everyone moves back, away from the center of the blanket.

“Well, that was fun,” Awsten says. “We’ve gotta do that again in Houston, see if we can find a Set It Off fan over there.”

“When you do plan on doing that, let me know so I can be fucking far away from you,” Dan grumbles. 

Awsten laughs. It’s been fun. He can’t wait to test out his powers with Ouija boards with Jawn and Otto and Geoff, so that when they follow through on this idea, he can do a lot more than just mess with candles. Levitating chairs and people is first on his list of things to learn.


End file.
